Their first album, Focus, was released in 1993. Cynic disbanded in 1994, reunited in 2006, and released their second album in 2008.[5]Traced in Air was released through French label Season of Mist,[6] followed up by an EP titled Re-Traced in 2010 and an EP titled Carbon-Based Anatomy in 2011. Their third studio album, Kindly Bent to Free Us, was released in 2014.
In December 2017, after two years of uncertainty surrounding his involvement,[7][8] founding drummer Sean Reinert confirmed his split from Cynic.[9] Reinert later died unexpectedly, at the age of 48, in January 2020.[10] Longtime Cynic bass player Sean Malone died at the age of 50 eleven months later.[11] The band's fourth album, Ascension Codes, was released in December 2021.